And That Was That
by Direa
Summary: A good man isn't easy to find for Haruno Sakura. There are a lot of frogs to kiss along the way. Future kakasaku.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not mine, made no money. But if horses were wishes... Also, not beta'd, so sorry if I missed something.

* * *

"So, I've been thinking..." 

Sakura looked up from her glass, noting how her companion's bright blue eyes were slightly hooded, taking on a bored, almost sleepy look.

"Yeah, and...?" She prompted, mixing her drink with the small plastic straw.

"I might just marry him." That said, Ino sipped on her own drink, paying little attention to the bout of choking that Sakura was currently in the middle of.

"Well, good for you!" She said a bit too cheerfully, wiping some of the drink from where it had splattered on the table.

"You don't believe me?" The blonde was regarding her with narrowed eyes now, almost challenging.

"Never said that." Sakura answered quickly, holding up one finger in defence and shaking her head for emphasis.

This wasn't the first time she had this kind of conversation with a less than sober Ino, and a less than sober Ino liked to say things just for effect sometimes. In this she was like many other less than sober people. Drunks, if you will. The problem was that sometimes, she was brash and proud enough to back up her statements with actions in the morning.

"Then why the look?" Ino asked, not convinced.

"No look. Just wasn't expecting you to say that." She answered. And then quietly to herself, smirking, "Ever."

This was Ino, after all. The girl who had dated half the eligible bachelors in Konoha, discarding each when she grew bored of them. True, she had somewhat high standards, and few of them ever made it past the initial, take-me-out, buy-me-things stage. But still. This wasn't a girl who would willingly give up her freedom, not to mention taste for variety, easily. One would think.

Sakura turned back to Ino, mentally counting before asking. "Its only been, what, a few months?"

"Uh, try 11?"

"Really? Already?" Sakura frowned. She was usually good with this kind of thing.

"Ever since that sake incident." Ino tilted her head to the side and smiled knowingly.

Sakura rolled her eyes. Her and Ino had a "sake incident" almost every Friday. It just so happened that that particular time Shikamaru had been around and in a similar state of insobriety. But really, almost a year already? How could she be that far off?

"What's today again?" She asked.

"The third."

"Of?"

Ino paused from her perusal of the bar's drinks menu, giving Sakura one of those funny looks she'd been giving her recently.

"Of March, Sakura. March. Remember? What's with you?" Ino's look was exasperated, but Sakura knew some of it was just concern. She _had_ been a lot more absentminded than usual. Like now, when she noticed belatedly that Ino was still waiting on an answer.

"Hm? Nothing. Just lost track of the days. Again. You know, busy with work and all that." It was the truth.

Ino looked at her for another long second before shifting her attention back to the menu.

Sakura downed the rest of her own drink, barely registering the warm sensation it left behind. They were here for not even 20 minutes and this was her 3rd of the evening already. A wry smile crossed her face. At this rate of lubrication, it was no wonder she was losing track of time. She turned back to her friend.

"Eleven months or not, which, by the way, is still not that long when you recall that both of you are away on missions half the time, you're kinda young to even be thinking about this." Sakura said.

Part of her Sakura believed that. The other part was just suddenly very nervous. With Ino married, she'd lose her last (maybe only) real girl friend. Sure, she had the guys, and she got along just fine with Hinata, but no one she could go out and just be herself with, just be a girl. An inebriated girl,very often, but a girl nonetheless. The thought of losing Ino to Shikamaru left her feeling a little abandoned.

She sighed again. It wouldn't have been so bad if she had someone too, but that wasn't completely her fault. Medicine was a demanding mistress. Not to mention Tsunade. Sakura couldn't expect her friends to be as socially stunted as she was.

"Young? Are you serious? In our line of work?" Ino was looking at her with that weird look again, the one Sakura couldn't quite put her finger on, as the blonde sipped her new, multi colored drink. "You, uh, do remember how old we are, right?"

She rolled her green eyes heavenward.

"Yes," Sakura answered. "I'm 21 this month." Which, she had completely forgotten about till now.

"You don't think that's young?" She asked Ino, who scoffed visibly.

"I'm not saying that I plan to settle down and start banging out kids any time soon. I mean I don't plan on retiring the girls just yet." Ino glanced down at herself with pride as she said this, assessing first left and then right breast. Sakura couldn't fault her there. Her friend really was pretty damn lucky when it came to that.

"Its just nice to have a little security. No matter how filthy or bitchy I come back after a mission, there's nothing he can do about. Its in the vows and all that."

"True." Sakura agreed.

Ino continued speaking when her eyes came back to Sakura. "You know, if you put in a third of the time into finding a guy as you did into finding cures, you might just get some, too."

The pink haired girl turned her attention back to her one _true_ friend, the alcohol. "Its not like I haven't tried." she mumbled wistfully into her cup before taking a long, comforting drink from it.

Her last statement, sadly enough, was also true.

She might have not really put herself out there on the market recently, but Sakura _had_ tried dating. She hadn't even gotten disheartened when her first few attempts had ended in disaster. Damn funny disasters, if you asked Ino, but Sakura didn't. No, not Sakura. She was too stubborn to just give up. Too proud and optimistic and persistent. She was in the beginning, anyway.

It came in waves, her dating phases. First, she would get too fed up with being alone. She would do something new with her hair, get a new outfit or two and start flirting with a few guys. She would then go on a few dates, find them all unacceptable for one reason or another, lose hope and finally retreat back into her "Safe Cave" for another few months. That was what Ino referred to her office/study/haven in the Hokage's tower.

Really, she did try. And her reasons of rejection were always valid. Take, for example, Moshigawa Kaito.

She had met him in the hospital, where she seemed to meet a lot of her male acquaintances. After returning from a mission he had wisely decided to seek medical attention for a deep, ugly slash across his well defined chest and shoulder. Normally, a medic or nurse would have been attending to him immedietly, but at that very instant the hospital had been swamped. After all of 2 minutes of waiting patiently for a free medic, he had bellowed at the top of his voice for some attention.

Now, Sakura was nothing if not used to whiny shinobi wanting to get the hell out of the hospital as soon as possible, so she quickly put him in his place with a "Shut your face or I'll let you bleed all over the floor," as she pulled his handsome, if somewhat boy-like face down to her eye level by his ear. He was the perfect patient from then on, thanking her and complementing her medical skill profusely. She couldn't refuse his offer for dinner. He was attractive, around her own age, and available. Not to mention he knew his place, now. And she had decided to venture from her metaphoric Cave just earlier that day. She was optimistic.

So boy was she surprised when he showed up to the restaurant with no less then 2 chaperones. Still, Kaito had that puppy dog look on his face and Sakura tried to make the best out of the evening, even when his mother tucked his napkin into his collar for him.

Even when said mother ordered the cheapest plate on the menu for all of them and dabbed at the corners of her son's mouth with a napkin every 2 minutes.

It was when Kaito went to the bathroom and both mother and sister turned their shrewd, narrowed eyes on Sakura to question her about _her intentions _for their dear Kaito that Sakura finally bolted. But Kaito was just the first of many.

There was also Hideki. The dinner portion of their date went splendidly well. He joked, she laughed, they talked. More fun than most of the dates she went on, and Sakura had enjoyed herself immensely. So much so that she had been loath to end the night just then, and they went out for drinks. But as soon as that first, fateful drop of alcohol touched his lips, it was like someone had flipped a switch. Not only did he get sad and melancholy instantly, but had openly started weeping, _weeping_, right there in the middle a bar crowded with her friends and acquaintances, when she told him that no, she wouldn't take him home and tuck him in that night. Her face had stayed red for week.

And then there was Yukio. As pretty as he had been, all through out dinner he kept asking her to feel him flex various parts of stupid, albeit very attractive body. After the fourth time she heard him say, "No, seriously, get a load of these," Sakura politely excused herself to the bathroom and never came back.

And then there was Juro, who had propositioned their waitress right in front of her.

Naoko, who had been _much_ more interested in their waiter then he had been in her.

Haru and his sock puppets.

Shiro with his damn pet rock.

The list went on and on. The only one who really benefitted from all her trials and tribulations was Ino, when she fell down laughing hearing the stories afterwards. Actually, it was how their ritual of Sake Friday got started in the first place and how Sakura had gotten to know her new ally, the Alcohol so well.

Sakura snapped back to reality when she noticed that the contents of her cup had mysteriously disappeared again, and that Ino was still talking.

"...yeah, so you've had a few bad dates, like all of us. Doesn't mean you should join a convent. Face it, you're not gonna stay young and hot forever." She finished.

"I know. I just wish I didn't have to weed through all these losers to date the good ones. That I could just date like, you know, some of the guys from our year."

"Why can't you do that again?" Ino asked, not for the first time.

"They're all too weary of the guys. Its that unspoken rule that you can't date your friend's sister. That's what I am to them. Lee was the only one brave enough to try." Sakura said hopelessly. Even her faithful green shadow had gotten himself a girlfriend. Somehow.

"Too stupid if you ask me." Ino interjected. "You could always date one of the 'guys'..."

She kept a straight face for all of 3 seconds before breaking out into an a not-so-apologetic smile. "Right, right, sorry."

It was ironic that Sasuke, Naruto and Sai, 3 of the most sought after men in the whole village saw her as nothing more than sister. Sometimes a less nice word was used, but the sentiment was the same.

Downing her 6th (or was it 7th) drink, Sakura decided to turn in for the night. She picked a few bills out of her pocket and placed her empty cup on them, slipped from her bar stool and took a deep breath as she fought to stand up steady. Unlike Ino, she had no one to haul her drunken self home.

Briefly she spied Kakashi out of the corner of her eye in the back of the bar and sighed in understanding. No wonder no one had hit on her that night.

It was nothing he ever said or did, no look he gave. Just his presence alone seemed to act as guy repellent. All of 'the guys' had that effect on other men. It was the very brave or the very oblivious men who tried to make a pass at her when one of them was near. She looked down at the hot new outfit she had on, a tight black tunic over tight red shorts and her tall black boots, and shook her head. What an utter waste.

"I'll see you next week." She mumbled to Ino as she stumbled out of the bar and into the cool spring air.

There was always tomorrow. Maybe she'd finally get lucky with one.

Sakura made a face in the dark. Her idea of lucky was a guy that she wouldn't be embarrassed being seen in public with. Oh, how her standards had dropped over the years.

There was always next year.

* * *

TBC, and with actual story development. This might sound needy, but... please review. 


	2. Chapter 2

She woke up hungry.

No, not hungry. Ravenous. So much so that she had actually started gnawing on the edge of her pillow in her sleep, awakening to the taste of semi dried drool and feathers. Not her idea of starting the day off right, but it happened often enough that she got used to it.

When Sake Friday had first been put into effect, officially, she had tried to keep to her regular schedule. This meant getting up at around dawn for her morning exercise: a nice, leisurely 50 lap run around the village. It was then that she had learned that her newly acquired friend, the Alcohol, had a split personality named the Hangover if she got up before noon. And she was nothing if not a quick learner.

So, today, in her typical Saturday morning fashion, Haruno Sakura, respected kinouchi, widely renowned medic and personal apprentice to the Kokage herself, sluggishly rolled out of her cocoon of blankets and pillows at a little past 1 in the afternoon and stumbled clumsily to her bathroom.

"Ugh." She groaned unintelligibly as she spied her image in the mirror above her sink before turning the tap of her shower and let the water run warm.

Her appearance that morning was definitely ugh-worthy. Her long pink hair, usually silky and glossy was tangled and matted to the side of her face. Part of it had been unfortunate enough to get between her and the pillow at some point during the night and stuck to the side of her face in an unattractive pink clump. There was a trail of dried saliva between it and her mouth. Not to mention her make up, now smudged and caked, made her look like she just stepped out of a zombie movie. That, or a bingo book.

At least she had had enough presence of mind to take her clothes of before crawling into bed and promptly passing out last night.

After finishing with her teeth, which she had scrubbed viciously to get rid of the slimy, sticky feeling, Sakura rinsed her mouth and stepped under the hot spray of her shower. The water was almost too hot, making her body tingle in response, finally waking her up. She wasted little time in washing herself and her hair, but then lingered under the comforting sensation of water massaging her slouched back until the water turned tepid and then finally cold.

Wrapping a towel around herself, she stepped out unto the bath rug and glanced at herself again. That was more like it.

She quickly made a mental list of things she had to do that day. Cleaning up her place; breakfast; grocery shopping; dinner with the guys, if she could find them all. Her stomach rumbled anxiously. Cleaning and finding herself some pants could wait. She was hungry.

* * *

"Oiy, dobe. Over here." He sounded smug. 

The voice was coming from right behind his left ear, but the boy didn't dare look. He'd fallen for this one before; he was not going to again. Instead, he continued to stare at his opponent, their arms straining from the pressure of their opposing forces. Each had a kunai in hand, presently clashed together in an attempt to overpower the other.

"Naruto-kun, why are you ignoring me?" A girl's voice spoke, sounding quiet and hurt and petulant.

"Please, Naruto-kun?" Hinata begged, shy, hopeful, somewhere behind him.

The voice and direction changed each time and his ears twitched in response.

"I'm just so lonely." Ino whined, closer.

"I'd do anything you want." Kurenai whispered, seductively throaty, on his left.

"_Anything_."

That was Sakura for that last "anything" right by his right ear, so close and softly moaned that he could almost feel warm breath on the skin.

The growl that had been building deep within Naruto's throat finally managed to escape past his lips, forming a sneer as he bared his sharp front teeth. He struggled against his opponent with renewed vigor, but the latter held fast, only losing a step or two before he adjusted his stance. And he was smiling. Sasuke was smiling.

Naruto rued the day that Sasuke had learned to throw his voice like that. He lost track of how many times the bastard had gotten him already. At first it had been small things that Naruto would never guess were faked, like hearing bear noises nearby while he was peeing in some bushes. That had caused him immense panic because of his vulnerable position and much embarrassment in front of his team later.

But lately, Sasuke had been using it more and more in training.

This wasn't like genjutsu. Unlike for most people, genjutsu was a lot simpler for him to deal with. Naruto could sense an opponent's chakra in the air and feel the false vibrations of artificial sound when it was a genjutsu and dismiss it. His ears were great like that.

But this, this was for real and his body had trouble not responding to such a realistic stimulus. It had thrown him off the first few times, but he was getting used to it. What was really killing him was that he still hadn't learned how the bastard did it.

Sasuke and Naruto had been going at it for a while now, since early morning. It was a relatively cool spring day, so they had decided on taijitsu for today's training. No Kyubi, no Sharingan, no nothing. Just pure strength, speed and skill.

But as the day wore on, their brutal blows and lightning quick attacks had deteriorated into grappling and shoving with an occasional mind-fuck, compliments of Sasuke. Sai had long since grown bored in the sidelines.

"Really dobe, I'm impressed. All these scantily dressed women right behind you just _begging_ for your attention, and you don't even look."

Sasuke was speaking to him normally now, his voice smooth and unstrained, a small smile firmly planted on his lips. Oh, how Naruto would have loved to wipe it off for him, preferably with his fists. Sometimes he wished Sasuke had never acquired a sense of humor.

It had taken the dark haired boy a long time to develop into a real human being after he had come back to Konoha 6 years ago. He had been bloody, battered, half dead and had in his possession one Sennin-level, decapitated snake head. He had been cold and even more anti-social than ever back then.

After what seemed like months of interrogation and surveillance, ANBU had finally given him free reign of the village. It had taken the old Team 7 several years to really get back to where they were before in terms of their friendship and trust. It had taken longer still to get as close as they were now.

Not to mention how long it had taken for Sasuke to grow his own personality.

It was subtle; a sarcastic comment here, a wise crack there, spaced few and far between that you could dismiss them as attitude if you didn't know Sasuke any better. But since Naruto and Sakura did, they recognized it for what it was-- sense of humor. And they couldn't be any prouder. Except times like these, when Sasuke used his newly acquired ability for evil instead of entertainment.

"Hey bastard, shut up and fight." Naruto managed to grunt out between growls.

The bastard ignored him.

"Oiy, Sakura, is that a new outfit?" He asked 'Sakura" with faux curiosity, addressing an area of space just out of Naruto's field of vision. "You must be cold, wearing so very little."

Naruto's eye twitched.

"Not at all, Sasuke-kun." Replied 'Sakura'.

It sounded like 'Sakura' was walking towards them, feet just audible on the sandy ground. But Naruto still wasn't fooled. Last time he fell for that one he got a foot to the face of his own.

"Are we still on for dinner tonight?" The voice asked, closer now, off to the side and behind him.

"Sure." Sasuke answered effortlessly. How the bastard managed to not sound winded even though their training was visibly taxing them both Naruto would never know.

Sasuke turned his smug, smarmy gaze back to him.

"Naruto?" The feminine voice asked again.

He didn't respond. He wouldn't give that wretch the satisfaction.

"Naruto, I asked you a question." The voice was impatient now, very life-like. Sasuke smiled darkly, not breaking eye contact with Naruto.

_He thinks he's so freaking great. I'll show him._

"What was that, Sakura-chan?" Naruto yelled, still not breaking eye contact with Sasuke as his face broke into a fox-like, gleeful grin. "I didn't hear you over how _LOUD_ that outfit is."

He never saw the fist coming. All he knew was that suddenly, he was about 30 feet from where he used to be, slamming into a tree. It cracked under the force but Naruto didn't hear it, since the ringing in his ears was just way too loud. Rubbing his head, he tried to open his eyes and found a very angry and a very real Sakura standing over him, her fists on her hips.

"What did you say?" She hissed, hauling him up by his ear painfully.

Briefly Naruto noticed her change in wardrobe with the eye that was not presently swelling shut.

"Uh..." He laughed nervously and asked in a small, sorry voice. "When did _you_ get here?"

She gave him a disgusted look as she threw him aside with a simple snap of her delicate yet deceptively strong wrist.

"7 o'clock, at the usual place." Sakura spat. "Don't you even _dare_ be late."

She shot a narrowed look at Naruto and then Sai, who had sat up from his prone lounging position with interest at the new situation. Both quickly nodded in the affirmative.

Sakura cast one last glance at Naruto. Satisfied that he was properly punished she left the training grounds.

"Thanks a lot, asshole." Naruto snarled.

Sasuke just smirked.

* * *

As it turned out, Sakura was the last to arrive to the restaurant. She brushed off the maitre 'd as she made her way over to the guys, who seemed to be in deep conversation over something. They were in their usual seats, Naruto and Sai on one side and Sasuke on the other of the long rectangular table. She took the empty seat next to Sasuke, across from Sai, briefly noticing that the conversation halted abruptly. 

"Sorry I'm late." She apologized with little real sincerity. "Had to buy groceries."

They each greeted her with different degrees of wariness and murmurs of hello. _Good, _she thought to herself smugly. _They _should _fear me._

Sakura opened a menu even though she already knew what it said. They had come to this place often– it was one of the few places where the management didn't make them pay for damages when an argument between Sasuke and Sai got a little too heated.

"Did you order yet?" She asked without looking up.

"No, we were waiting for Kakashi-sensei." Naruto answered her.

_That_ caught her attention and she glanced up in surprise as she asked, "He's coming tonight?"

Despite the fact that he had an open invitation to their weekly gathering, he had showed up maybe twice in the last year. Both times had been someone's birthday and both times she had had to physically escort him there herself.

While the rest of Team Kakashi, now including Sai, was almost inseperable, Kakashi himself was usually nowhere to be found. Sakura ran into him in the market sometimes, passing him by with a polite smile and 'Hello', him answering with a 'Yo' and his signature wave. That is, when he wasn't completely engrossed in the latest edition of _Icha Icha Porn_. If that was the case he would just walk right by.

She knew he still trained with Naruto or Sasuke occasionally, but Sakura herself never saw much of him. They just didn't travel in the same circles.

"I saw him at HQ today. He mentioned he might stop by." Sasuke said casually, like it was nothing, even though Sakura knew he had to be as curious as she was.

"I bet he's out of money and just wants to mooch off of us for dinner." Sakura speculated as she went back to reading the menu.

It wouldn't have been the first time. Hatake Kakashi was almost as well known for his cheap, get-out-of-paying-the-bill tactics as he was for his ninja ability.

"Maybe he just wants to see us." Said Naruto.

"Maybe he heard about Sakura's new outfit." Sai supplied helpfully.

Her head snapped up immediately and she took in both Sasuke's and Naruto's chagrined expressions.

"What. About. It." She bit out menacingly.

"We were just talking," Sai continued as if he hadn't made a serious, potentially life threatening faux pas. "And we're not sure if you actually put that shirt on the morning or just paint it on. Naruto says he can tell the temperature by how–"

He couldn't continue because the table was very violently and very suddenly in the way of his face.

Naruto and Sasuke's faces contorted into identical grimaces of pain and apprehension. Sakura's smoldering gaze turned on Naruto.

"Now, now, Sakura-chan," Naruto held up both hands in surrender. "We can't _help_ but notice if your shirt happens to–"

A swift slap to one of his sensitive ears had him howling in pain.

Sasuke used all his willpower not to shrink back and melt into his chair when Sakura's hostile eyes fell on him. Hopelessly, he prayed that she would suddenly remember all those tender feelings she used to harbor for him when they were young. It was in vain.

"You," She snapped.

Sakura flicked his ear with 2 fingers, making sure to throw in a decent dose of chakra to really make it sting.

"_That's_ for that 'cold' comment today. I thought you were really concerned."

The sight that greeted Kakashi as he made his way over to their table was 3 grown shinobi, all of them accomplished Jounin, ANBU even, groaning and rubbing their respectful injuries as they cowered in fear of their petite, pink haired friend. Pitiful.

As Kakashi approached the table, his exposed eye was immediately drawn to the profile of Sakura's form. He had seen the long shirt the night before at the bar, but not from this close up. It was a thin, stretchy black material that seemed to hug her body like a glove, revealing more than it concealed. He could see clearly the outline of the bindings on her chest, wrapped diagonally across her torso. They did nothing to hide her womanly attributes. The gentle swell of her breast was clearly defined, as was her currently pebbled nipple. The generous amount of thigh that her shorts failed to cover was also noteworthy.

Kakashi cleared his throat and forced his gaze up to look at each of their faces by turn.

"Yo." He finally greeted them, drawing Sakura's attention away from the guys, and simultaneously gaining their gratitude for his interruption.

She looked up at him and smiled sweetly, and he couldn't help it. His eye strayed.

"Nice shirt, Sakura."

Three grown men groaned pathetically in unison.

* * *

Ok, sorry, I know I promised plot but I kinda had to get it set up. I swear, in the next one. I mean it this time. So, uh, review? 


	3. Chapter 3

Much thanks to reviews, particularly Caitiy. I can't help it--commas are my friends.

* * *

Sakura didn't cuff him, despite the very strong urge to do so. It wouldn't do to scare him away before she found out why he was here in the first place. She settled for gnashing her teeth together audibly and murmuring "Pervert" under her breath. 

Said pervert pulled up a chair from another table and settled at the head of theirs, on Sakura's right.

While he was sitting, Sakura self-consciously glanced down at the shirt that had been the topic of so much interest recently. It might have been tight, but it wasn't bursting at the seams. And it had a pretty high collar, ending at the base of her neck. Hell, it even covered her flat stomach, unlike Ino's handkerchief of a shirt.

It split at the sides at hip level, making it comfortable and unrestrictive, great for combat. Besides, she liked the straps and buckles on the sides. It wasn't indecent Sakura decided, despite the fact that when she was a little cold _everyone_ seemed to notice.

"So," Kakashi started casually. "Who's paying?"

Naruto and Sakura sweat-dropped simultaneously. All four gave him identically dirty looks.

"Ah, ha-ha, joking." He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

He reached for a menu with the other, scanning the pages briefly before closing it and putting it back on to the table. When he looked up all four where still staring at him silently.

"...what?" He asked, eyes shifting around in bemusement.

"Well, we were just, uh, wondering what brings you here tonight. To dinner. With us." Sakura blurted out.

"You invited me." Kakashi answered, as if that explained everything.

"But you've _never_ come before. I mean, not that we're not happy to see you or anything, but uh..." Naruto trailed off.

"Why are you here?" Sai supplied helpfully.

"To eat." Kakashi replied in a tone that clearly implied "Duh!", as he motioned to the menus in front of them.

That aggravated tick was back in Sakura's eye, but she let it go. Experience had taught them that if Hatake Kakashi didn't want to do something, he didn't. Answering questions and appeasing their burning curiosity just didn't make it on to his to-do list. It was in the same category as getting up early to meet his team.

Naruto motioned to their waitress, who hurried over to take their order. Once she departed, the table fell into a momentary silence as their dinner time dynamic adjusted to this new shift in equilibrium.

"So, what were you discussing before I got here?" Kakashi asked in an attempt to break the ice.

"We were just talking about Sakura's –" Sai tried to answer, but couldn't because he was suddenly getting reacquainted with the table top, courtesy of Sasuke. The latter glanced quicky at Sakura and relaxed when he saw she wasn't blowing her top again.

_Crisis averted_, he thought to himself. Sai was really going to have to learn tact one of these days.

"So, Kakashi-sensei, what have you been up to lately?" Sakura asked in an attempt to make casual conversation.

"You know, this and that." He answered, but didn't.

She was about to make a disgruntled comment at his evasion, but was interrupted by the arrival of their drinks. It was a different waitress than the one who had taken their order. She was pretty average in appearance, if you didn't take into account her extremely large, partially exposed chest.

Sakura was both relieved and chagrined by the fact that the woman's presence was diverting the guys' attention from her. Sasuke, Naruto and Sai all seemed to be mesmerized when she leaned forward over Kakashi's side to pass out the half dozen bottles of Sake for the table. Her breasts came within inches of the Copy-nin's head, on the side of his exposed eye. From where she was sitting, Sakura couldn't tell if he looked or not, but she could guess. She rolled her eyes.

As the woman was leaving, Kakashi brought them all back to the present with a clearing of his throat.

"So Naruto, tell me about that new technique you were working on..." Kakashi prompted.

And suddenly the equilibrium of the table was restored. The blonde started raving excitedly and motioning sometimes violently with his hands as he went into proud detail about his new skill. It was a conversation that everyone could take part in, and the freely flowing alcohol being consumed helped the evening along. They didn't even notice that it was over half an hour before the food finally arrived.

When everyone's favorite waitress came back with a large tray supported by both her hands and her large chest the group paused their conversation. Sakura noted with disgust that Naruto's mouth actually hung open this time as his eyes followed her movements avidly.

The woman was barely out of earshot when Naruto blurted out, "Holy crap, did you see the size of her tits?"

Even though she knew it was the alcohol that made him _that_ much of a pig, Sakura scowled. But she didn't get a chance to berate him for his obnoxious comment because Kakashi stole the words right out of her mouth.

"Naruto, don't talk like that when there's a lady present." He chided disapprovingly.

Immediately Sakura felt herself smiling at him with affection. At least someone was still a gentleman after a few drinks. But just as she opened her mouth to thank him for his thoughtfulness, he started talking again.

"They prefer the word 'breasts'" Kakashi explained sagely.

Sakura slapped her hand on her forehead and tried to rub the annoyance away. It didn't work. She settled for taking another shot of her sake and dug into her dinner.

But now the conversation had taken a turn for the worst.

"I didn't like them." She heard Sai comment. "Too big. Sag a lot."

"You know who's got a great pair? Misaki! She was wearing that fishnet thing that..." Naruto rambled on about the virtues of the younger chunin.

Really, Sakura should be used to this by now. This topic seemed to come up frequently whenever they started drinking.

The only one who hadn't made a contribution yet was Kakashi, but he did seem to be following the conversation. She stole a glance in his direction stealthily, seeing nothing but his covered face and hair.

Although the food on his plate was diminishing steadily, she hadn't actually seen him lift anything to his mouth. She did see him chewing and swallowing. He moved way too fast for the naked eye to follow, and that was one of the reasons none of them had seen his face yet. Sakura and Naruto suspected that Sasuke had, but the boy wasn't owning up to anything. He claimed he never wasted his Sharingan on something as stupid and pointless as that.

Sakura was sitting in his blind spot, on the side of his covered eye. As she moved forward to grab a fresh bottle of sake from in front of Naruto, she came into his field of vision again. Her chest swayed slightly as she leaned over the table. Given the present topic of conversation, Kakashi wasn't surprised that his eye fixed itself unto that particular part of her body and he assessed it with interest.

That alone would have been fine if he was stealthy, but his head had instinctively followed her chest when she returned to her original position on his left. It was the noise of her feminine throat clearing that broke the spell.

Kakashi's eye met her narrowed ones as he half winced/ half smiled in apology. Briefly he wondered if her pink flush was due to the alcohol, anger or something else.

In any case, he was just glad she didn't make a big deal about it. He turned back to other occupants of the table, noting they were thankfully oblivious of the exchange. Kakashi pulled at the collar of his shirt, suddenly rather warm. Embarrassment was not something he was used to. Silently he berated himself for getting caught.

Naruto was just getting to the good part about his latest escapade of the sexual nature (did Sakura really need to hear this?) when he was rudely interrupted.

"Hatake, _this _is your super-important meeting?"

A sharp voice laced with suspicion caused 4 pairs of inquisitive eyes to turn to the newcomer with interest. Kakashi's shoulders seemed to slump even further down than usual. He took one last lightning quick shot of his sake before turning to the owner of the voice.

Sakura's eyes had widened slightly when they came to rest on the black-clad figure.

_He's beautiful,_ was her first thought. It was quickly followed by_ Holy shit._

The man before them was only slightly taller than average, maybe an inch above Sakura's own height, but he held himself regally. He was wearing loose black pants that were bound tightly below the knees and a similar short sleeved shirt. The bindings on his upper arms brought attention to the slim yet extremely well defined arms.

But really, it was his face that had caught Sakura's attention. It was a perfect oval of pale cream, framed by an unruly mop of dark brown hair. A small, straight nose and almond-shaped, chocolate-brown eyes accentuated high, chiseled cheekbones. He had eyelashes Sakura could be jealous of. The chin was the only feature that kept the face from appearing _too_ pretty, but just barely.

In a way he reminded Sakura of a young Sasuke, but not. Sakura tried not to stare but couldn't seem to help it.

His eyes met hers briefly, before running down the length of her body and back up again. Wide lips formed a small, knowing smile. She blushed, averting her eyes. He turning back to Kakashi.

Kakashi exhaled slowly as he stood up.

"Raidon. How nice to see you again." He said with light sarcasm.

Raidon crossed his arms in front of his chest, his eyes moving over the faces of the other 3 shinobi before returning to Sakura's still pink face.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Raidon asked, smirking. His eyes left Sakura when Kakashi answered him.

"Wasn't planning on it, no." He retorted, just continuing to stand there and stare back for a long minute.

Too long for Naruto. He had been sitting rather patiently waiting for an explanation, but his curiosity was killing him. He couldn't take it anymore.

"Neh, Kakashi-sensei who the hell is this guy!" He exclaimed loudly, jumping out of his own chair.

It was Raidon's turn to look surprised.

"Kakashi-_sensei? _Well that's new. What else have I missed?" A perfect eyebrow was arched in inquiry.

Kakashi didn't answer.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked , not even trying to hide his curiosity.

Kakashi sighed painfully, but dutifully introduced the stranger in a bored monotone.

"Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Sai, meet Fushino Raidon. We were in ANBU together."

_He just gets better and better_, Sakura thought to herself. Her interest had been piqued again at the mention of ANBU. Apparently so was Sasuke's.

"Fushino...I've heard of you. You were a legend." He said with a hint of respect in his voice.

Raidon smiled widely at him. "Yes, well, that was a long time ago. I was no more a legend that Hatake himself here. The kind of shit we used to–"

"Yes, very interesting Raidon. Good times. Now, if you don't mind..." Kakashi drawled in a blatantly uninterested, uninviting voice.

Raidon's smile widened, but it lost all sincerity.

"I'm sorry, I forgot about your super important, super top-secret appointment that you couldn't be late to_." _The sarcasm dripped from Raidon's voice and fell in heavy, metaphorical drops on the floor. His mocking glance surveyed the myriad of empty sake bottles littering the table.

"We'll catch up later, pal." He quipped as he turned and made his way out of the restaurant. Sakura's eyes followed him out.

Kakashi sat back down and poured himself another drink. It was when he was placing the cup back on the table that he noticed the other four staring at him blankly for the second time that evening.

"...what?"

"What the hell was all that about?" Naruto asked, finally voicing what was on all of their minds.

"All of what?" Kakashi asked blankly.

"The thing with that Raidon guy." Naruto clarified, feeling his frustration grow.

"Like I said, we were in ANBU together." Kakashi reiterated.

Naruto growled, irked. Really, it was like pulling teeth trying to get information out of this guy. He couldn't understand Kakashi's strange behavior at all today.

Fortunately, Sakura was much brighter than him.

"Super top-secret meeting, huh?" She asked rhetorically.

Sasuke was just as sharp. "So now we know why you're _here_."

"But not _why_ you're here." Sai added.

"Huh? What?" Naruto's alcohol soaked brain was spinning trying to follow what they were talking about. "I don't get it. Wait, why..."

Suddenly, understanding dawned on the blond boy.

"You don't like him, is that it?" He concluded proudly, smiling himself.

"Good job, Naruto." Sakura complimented him tolerantly.

Kakashi didn't answer, just stared thoughtfully at Naruto and then briefly at Sakura, causing them both to squirm in their seats.

"I'm off." He said, rising from the table. He left without another word.

A few seconds passed in silence before Sakura blurted out in belated bewilderment, "That was pretty weird."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "What do you think happened between them?"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted in thought. "Not sure. I do know Fushino was on a mission for the last 9 years."

Naruto whistled softly in wonder. "Shit."

They contemplated for a few minutes on the kind of history the two could have had, but it was nothing but pure speculation. It was just so long ago for them to know anything about it.

"We're gonna get to the bottom of this." Naruto vowed drunkenly as he stood from the table, throwing money down to pay for his meal. "First thing tomorrow." The others nodded in agreement as they did the same.

It was then that Sasuke noticed something aggravating.

"Kakashi skipped out on the bill again." He informed the others.

No one was particularly surprised.

* * *

More soon. Feedback?  



	4. Chapter 4

The cold water felt like heaven on her heated face. Looking up at her reflection in the glass that separated the operating room and wash room, she noted that she almost looked awake as the water flowed down her chin and dripped into the sink.

Although, her eyes were only half-way open. And she no longer had the strength to keep the corners of her mouth from turning down. And now that the excess water had runoff and her face cooled, she could see just how pale she was.

Really, Sakura thought to herself, she looked great. For someone that had just stood over patients for 8 hours straight, trying to stitch up their mangled insides with a rapidly depleting supply of chakra, and that was after another 8 hour shift, she was a beauty queen.

Sakura rolled her shoulders, cracking the joints in her neck and back before she was reminded of the task at hand.

Priority number one: Wash away the blood body fluids that were currently staining her arms up to her elbows.

Priority number two: Find a spare cot somewhere, one that noone will ever find her in, and pass out.

Priority number three: Burn her uniform. Because really, it was just gross.

She wondered not for the first time if there was just something about Mondays that made people want to run into sharp things. Or fall into pits. Or eat things they found on the floor. Or go strolling in the Forest of Death. Whatever it was that had gotten them injured and brought them to her hospital. She didn't know why it was the case, but Monday after Monday hordes of injured villagers, shinobi and civilians alike, marched into her emergency room to seek medical treatment like it was going out of fashion.

Maybe the thought of death just seemed that much more appealing on Mondays.

It had been a revolving door at the hospital from the moment she had come on duty at 7:30 that morning. A farmer got kicked in the chest by an irate donkey he was trying to saddle, cracking a rib. A gennin fell on his own kunai while training. An ancient, fragile fossil of a woman tripped over that same bleeding gennin as his mother was rushing him to the hospital, breaking a hip. All of this was easy enough to treat for Sakura, if not a little time consuming.

As soon as the healthy glow of chakra dissipated from her hands as she finished mending the old woman's hip, a nurse burst into the room, breathlessly asking for her assistance with frantic hand motioning. It seemed that the first batch of injured shinobi had just arrived. So it began.

One thing that Sakura could say about this job was that it wasn't boring. Sure, it was tedious; studying rare diseases and cures for hours on end, but it had variety.

Today, for instance, she got a wide selection of many interesting injuries to deal with. Some patients where stabbed, others slashed. Some poisoned, some strangled. Some drowned, some crushed. Some burned, some frostbitten. Bleeding profusely, suffering from extreme blood loss... the list went on. Everything and anything that could have happened on a mission had. It was a veritable smorgasbord of injuries.

There was just something about Mondays.

It was after Sakura had set her third broken bone of the day that Tsunade finally decided to take pity on her apprentice and dismissed her for the day. For this Sakura was highly grateful, if the speed with which she dropped the newly healed arm was any indication.

But now, back to Priority number one.

There was just no way she could sleep while dried blood was still caked on her skin, no matter how tired she was. Drowsily she scrubbed at her hands and arms, feeling an odd satisfaction when the water ran a light pink and then finally, clear.

Sakura grabbed a towel from the rack beside her, slowly drying off her hands. There was no rush now, no one was dying. It was late and she was almost home free.

"Haruno-san!" A frantic young medic burst in to the entrance of the washroom, chest heaving from her obvious run. "You need to come quick, they need you in the south wing."

The towel dropped from her hands. _Oh, for the love of_...

"What happened?" She asked wearily, with little real interest. _So close._

She wished fancifully that it was an early surprise party for her birthday, and that there would be cake.

"ANBU, pretty ugly. Tsunade-sama took the worst one, but we're all tied down, so..." She trailed off, glancing over her shoulder anxiously in the direction she had come from.

"I'll be right there." Sakura replied wistfully. No cake.

As she followed the younger girl down the hall, Sakura wondered fleetingly if it was anyone she knew.

At first she had worried constantly when Naruto, then Sai and finally Sasuke joined ANBU. Every time word came of an impending arrival of injured ANBU, Sakura would drop whatever else she was working on and rush madly to meet them.

She soon learned that it was pointless. Rarely was either Sai or Sasuke seriously injured, and even then, they brushed it off as nothing.

Naruto, she was convinced, was invincible.

Fushino Raidon, Sakura decided as she entered the south wing emergency room, was clearly not.

He was lying on a gurney about 20 feet away from her, his head turning restlessly from side to side. As she got closer, she could hear faint groans of pain and see the nasty looking gash on the side of his otherwise flawless forehead. The swelling was something awful, distorting the shape of his face. His hair was matted with blood.

Sakura took a quick deep breath to gather her strength, shaking off the weariness that had crept into her. She had work to do.

Quickly, efficiently, she surveyed the rest of his body with both eyes and lightly glowing hands, finding nothing. Beside the obvious hole in his head, she couldn't find anything wrong with him, not even scratches on his hands or tears on his clothing. Some one had obviously gotten lucky in causing his injury.

Sakura reached for the gauze the other medic had placed on the table beside the gurney and dipped it into the antiseptic solution, bringing it to Raidon's forehead. She wiped away the dark, drying blood on his skin and moved the hair out of the way gently before cleaning the laceration.

He was extremely hot to the touch, even though the wet cloth. She took another and repeated the process, delving a little deeper between the edges if the skin, gently brushing away dirt until she could just see his skull. He moaned, trying to turn his head away, but didn't wake up as she grasped it to keep him in place.

Satisfied, Sakura dropped the gauze on the table and brought both hands to his head. Tentatively, she leaked some chakra into his skin, searching out the infection she could already see. She found it immediately and directed more chakra to contain and eliminate it. It was fortunate that the cut hadn't been deep enough to crack or breach his skull. Swelling and infection was something she could handle. Brain damage, not so much.

Fifteen minutes later found Sakura swaying on her feet, grasping the side of the bed to keep herself upright.

Honestly, she wasn't sure how she had managed to even finish treating him, but finish she did. She had even mended the skin, loathe as she was to leave him permanently scarred. All that was left now was a small pile of pink-red gauze and a pink line about 2 inches in length above his left temple. In a matter of days it would be gone completely.

The whole time Sakura had been working on him, Raidon had only woken up once. He had looked past her with dazed, unseeing eyes and then promptly passed out again.

Just then, he woke up again. This time his gaze was steady and focused as his eye lids fluttered open, taking in his surroundings before finding Sakura leaning over him.

"Hello." He greeted her curiously.

The last thought that passed through Sakura's mind before the world went dark and she slumped over Raidon's chest gracelessly was that he had pretty eyes.

Raidon caught her easily, sitting up so he could keep her from sliding to the floor. He winced at the pounding headache that immediately assailed him.

"Hey! Over here!" He called to a nearby medic, waving his hand in the general direction of the lifeless body still weighing him down.

It was quickly removed to an adjacent gurney, the medic hurrying back to his own patient. Raidon sat up fully, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and fought off a wave of nausea before he let his feet touch ground.

He paused briefly over Sakura's sleeping form, studying her features before smiling slightly to himself, and left the hospital.

* * *

When Sakura woke up again, it was Tuesday afternoon. She could tell because she recognized the nurse hovering by the door, talking to some man. She sat up a little higher on the bed, blinking away both sleep and confusion from her eyes and noticed that she was in one of the hospital rooms upstairs.

Huh. When had that happened? The last thing she remembered was standing over Raidon, trying to keep her eyes open. She looked around the room again, looking for any clues. Belatedly, she came to the conclusion that she also recognized the man the nurse had been talking to.

Raidon was walking towards her, carrying a vase of flowers that she recognized as having come from the Yamanaka flower shop. He smiled at her when their eyes met.

"Hello again." He said cheerfully, putting the flowers on the bedside table.

Sakura smiled shyly, "Hi."

"I didn't get a chance to thank you yesterday for fixing me, so hence, these." Raidon motioned in the general direction of the flowers.

Sakura blushed. "Its my job. They're very nice, but you shouldn't have."

He brushed off her protest. "It was nothing. I would also like to treat you to dinner, to thank you. Your work was flawless." He added as he brought a hand up to the fading pink line at his temple.

Sakura blushed even harder, the heat spreading to her hairline and her neck, at the compliment. He was charming, she decided. Still, this wasn't the first time a patient had asked her out.

She opened her mouth to gently turn him down. "I'm flattered, but I don't think that's–"

"I insist." He interrupted her.

Sakura paused. Really, why was she saying no anyway? Ino would smack her silly if she found out Sakura had turned him down for a date. If it was a date.

And she _was_ curious about him, after that weird exchange with Kakashi in the restaurant. _Might as well hit 2 birds with one stone_, Sakura thought to herself.

"Alright." She finally answered, earning a pleased smile from Raidon.

"Good. I'll meet you here tomorrow, after your shift. I asked the nurse when you got off." He added in explanation when he saw her questioning look.

"Ah. Ok." Sakura nodded, unsure of what else to say.

He didn't seem to notice her slight discomfort.

"I need to be going. I'll see you then." Raidon said, waiting only long enough to see her smile and bid him goodbye.

Just as he was turning to leave, Naruto and Sasuke appeared in the doorway. Both came to a complete stop when they noticed Sakura's other visitor. Raidon kept walking, acknowledging them with a curt, impersonal nod before neatly stepping around them and leaving the room.

Sasuke was the first to notice the flowers by the bed, but Naruto caught the direction of his gaze quickly enough.

"Was that who I think it was?" He asked slowly, nodding towards the now empty doorway.

"It was. And I think he might have just asked me out." Sakura answered, looking somewhat perplexed.

"Kakashi's not going to be happy." Sasuke mused.

That Naruto still hadn't said anything should have tipped her off that something was up, but Sakura hadn't noticed. Her mind was on other matters.

"Why would he care? We're not really close. And I'm dying to know what's up between them."

"True." He let the subject go. "How are you feeling, by the way?"

"Fine. Just drained myself too much yesterday. Mondays, and all that. I was actually working on Fushino-san when I–"

"Damn, you work fast, Sakura-chan! He got your clothes off _already!_" Naruto exclaimed, not able to hold it in anymore.

At the moment, she was wearing a standard hospital gown, her filthy uniform folded over a chair by a thoughtful nurse.

Sasuke sighed when he noticed Sakura's eyes narrow menacingly at Naruto's crack. They all really needed to stop pissing her off like this. None of them would ever even think about hurting Sakura, but she didn't seem to have the same qualms when they deserved it. Or when she thought they deserved it.

"Good to see you're okay. We'll be going now." Sasuke said nonchalantly, if a bit hastily, as he pulled a still grinning Naruto to the door and out of harm's way.

"You _better_ run!" Sakura yelled at Naruto's retreating back, contenting herself with just threats for the moment. It wouldn't do to chase after him with her whole backside hanging out for the world to see.

She did have a reputation to uphold here.

* * *

"You know, Naruto, she _will_ kill you one of these days." Sasuke commented lightly as they walked out into the street.

Naruto didn't seem overly concerned with the prediction. "You worry too much. She knows it was a joke. Besides, it was funny! Come on! 'You work fast!', 'He got your clothes off'... classic. I can't believe I'm such a funny guy!"

"I can't believe some of the things you are either." Sasuke muttered sarcastically in response, but smiled secretly anyway. Sometimes Naruto _was _pretty funny, even if it was at Sakura's expense. All that mattered was that she didn't hear him laugh.

"So, do you think Kakashi-sensei will care?" Naruto asked when he finally stopped laughing at his own joke.

"Care about what?" A familiar, bored voice asked, intruding on the conversation.

Sasuke and Naruto stopped dead in their tracks as Kakashi stepped out from a food stand. Sasuke recovered first.

"Where we take Sakura for her birthday." He responded casually, hoping the older man wouldn't notice the momentary pause.

The exposed eye regarded him carefully.

"Wherever. Just not too expensive." He replied finally with his usual blase tone of his, still eyeing Sasuke.

"Alright then, I'll give you details later." Sasuke said, moving to pass the other man, hoping that was it. Naruto followed silently.

They got as far as 2 steps before Kakashi's cool, disinterested voice stopped them again.

"Oiy, Naruto, who works fast?"

And suddenly, Sasuke wished he knew that jutsu of Sakura's that could make the ground swallow a man whole.

Him, in particular.

* * *

This is purely kakasaku, but this probably isn't going where you think it is. So stay tuned. And review. 


	5. Chapter 5

"Uh, well... its– its no one you'd know." Naruto stammered nervously as he turned to face the older man with exaggerated dread.

Sasuke winced ever so slightly. Naruto sucked at lying. Badly. Both he and Sai had made small fortunes off of him in poker.

"No?" Kakashi asked innocently.

"Yeah, no. Just some girl we know. No one important." He rushed out, nodding vigorously to make his words seem more convincing.

But Kakashi didn't seem convinced, and it was no wonder. The only thing that could have given Naruto's lying away even more was if his nose had started to grow. His blue eyes were shifting from side to side, not able to keep eye contact with Kakashi. Sasuke wondered sometimes how he had gotten into ANBU in the first place.

Luckily for them Kakashi didn't press for more.

"Alright then." He said, dismissing them as he tilted his head thoughtfully and left, leaving the pair standing in the middle of the street. He heard the relieved sighs escape them from half way down the block.

Really, Kakashi thought to himself, he was going to have to teach the boy to hide his thoughts better. If he hadn't had a pretty good idea of who they were talking about before, he sure did now. There weren't that many _she's_ in Konoha that Sasuke would voluntarily bring up. What Kakashi _really_ wanted to know was the context of the conversation he had helplessly overheard.

He thought about going to "see how she was doing" himself, as an excuse to find out more.

Just like Naruto and Sasuke, he had (again, helplessly) overheard Fushino boast to another Jounin how the girl had swooned in his arms earlier that morning. Normally Kakashi couldn't be bothered to investigate something so trivial, but something about this whole thing gnawed at him. Part of it had to do with the appreciative looks he had caught passing between Raidon and Sakura earlier that week.

Kakashi couldn't help it. Fushino Raidon just irked him. They hadn't exactly been on the best of terms when the latter had left all those years ago, and it seemed they were picking things up right were they had left off: at each other's throats.

But Sakura... He could understand Raidon's interest in her. She was a particularly pretty girl, smiled a lot too. That alone would have been enough to catch the other man's attention, but Kakashi had no doubt that there was more. He suspected that the fact that she was associated with him was a big selling point.

No, he decided, he'd let it go. Sakura was a smart girl, much smarter than most, and she could take care of herself. She wasn't the type to fall for a pretty face. Anymore.

Besides, Raidon or not, he felt a little weird about intruding on her personal life. He hadn't exactly been a model friend or mentor to her recently.

_Ever_, a sneaky voice in the back of his mind whispered.

It wasn't entirely his fault. It might have been in the beginning, when he had been much more concerned with his two more problematic students. But then Tsunade had taken over all those years ago and there was really no need for him to be involved anymore.

Sometimes Kakashi wished things had turned out a little differently with that whole situation, but she had turned out fine anyway. Rather well actually, if her list of accomplishments (and admirers) was anything to go by.

Kakashi shook his head, shrugging the whole thing off. There was nothing to be concerned about here. Sakura was smart; he didn't need to worry about her. He was Hatake Kakashi, after all. 'Worry' wasn't even in his vocabulary.

* * *

He was starting to get worried, Kakashi decided as he threw back another swig of his beer. He listened with half an ear as Genma made some lewd joke off to the side, but he didn't acknowledge him with anything more than a grunt. 

From his position in the back of their usual booth he had an unobstructed view of almost the entire bar, including the door. And just a minute ago, he had had an unobstructed view of a certain long-gone Jounin escorting a familiar pink haired medic to a table.

Genma whistled appreciatively when he followed Kakashi's gaze and finally figured out the cause of his friend's distraction.

"Raidon always did have a way with the ladies." Genma said, openly leering at Sakura.

Anko snorted somewhere in the background, apparently finding the comment amusing.

"So did Hatake, for that matter." She quipped slyly, setting them both into a fit of drunken laughter.

Kakashi chose to not hear them, still eyeing the couple speculatively. They were seated across from each other, a bottle of sake and 2 cups placed between the two of them by a waitress. He was thankful that Sakura had chosen to forego the almost indecently short red shorts for a pair of snug black leggings instead.

He could tell she was a little nervous, her right hand worrying at a bracelet on her left as Raidon poured them both a drink. Each took hold of a cup then, Raidon raising his in what looked like a toast. Sakura did the same, smiled at her companion and then knocked it back like a pro. Raidon said something and she laughed briefly, and he poured them both another drink. Kakashi felt his eye turn down in a frown.

"Really Hatake," Anko was saying in between loud, amused cackles. "I would have thought you'd have gotten over that little thing after 10 years now. Why can't the two of you just be men about this?"

That set Genma off into yet another fit of laughter, this time of epileptic proportions. His two _friends_ had been making cracks at Kakashi's expense for a few minutes now, while Kakashi was studiously trying to ignore them to focus on his other two _friends _on the other side of the bar.

Solemnly, he swore that the next time he went out for a drink and found only Genma and Anko, without supervision, he would turn right back around and go home thirsty.

As it was, Kakashi was already here and on his way to a similar state of inebriation as the other two, so there was no point in leaving now. Especially after this new development in the evening. Kakashi decided he was in it for the long haul, and motioned to a passing waitress for another drink.

* * *

This isn't so bad, Sakura decided, as she listened half-attentively to the story Raidon was currently in the middle of. She wasn't nearly as nervous or uncomfortable as she was earlier that evening. After all, she wasn't here alone with him anymore. Her ever-reliable friend, the Alcohol was here too. 

She had been stressing about her upcoming "date" (after confirming with Ino, she had decided it was indeed that) for what seemed like the whole day. She had even begged off 15 minutes before her shift officially ended, just to have a little time to fix herself up before he got there.

Sakura couldn't recall the last time that she had been this nervous on a date. After all, she was no stranger to awkwardness. She only felt nervous about dates when the men taking her on them were especially strange, and that was a different kind of nervous altogether. This was the "oh my god, my hair, my hair!" kind, as opposed to "oh my god, where did he just put that spoon?".

The fact that Raidon might just have been the most attractive creature she had ever set eyes on was only part of it. He was also older (she wasn't exactly sure by just how much yet) and a lot more experienced.

Another big part was the fact that he had been in ANBU, and legend at that, if the rumors that he was on par with Hatake Kakashi himself could be believed.

Oh, and_ he knew Kakashi. _Sakura wasn't exactly sure how she felt about that, but it was definitely not comfortable.

So yes, when she had exited the building earlier that evening to find him leaning lazily against the side of the building with a foot propped up on the wall behind him, she was just a teeny bit uneasy.

And when Raidon had greeted her with a lopsided smile and asked her where she would like to eat, she had laughed (nervously) and suggested drinks before dinner.

And here they were now, with 3 empty bottles of sake between them and their plans of dinner abandoned. And while the conversation wasn't flowing as easy as she would have liked it to be, there was no awkward silences. Raidon compensated for her somewhat quiet demeanor admirably, regaling her with the stories of his travels.

As Raidon was getting to the punch line of how some high Fire Country lord had caught Raidon as he was crawling out of a private bathroom, another Jounin sidled up to their table to say hello, but it wasn't the one that she might had expected.

Sakura had caught a glance of Kakashi and the other two when she had walked in, but paid little attention to them. She was more worried about what she was going to say than who else was in the bar. And as her cup was filled and refilled throughout the evening, she forgot all about the occupants of the far most booth.

That is, until Genma decided to stop by. He made his was over as stealthily as a new born giraffe and loudly clapped Raidon on his shoulder.

"How's it goin', buddy?" Genma bellowed jovially, keeping his hand on Raidon in what Sakura guessed was an attempt to stay upright. His lips formed a wide, highly amused smile around his senbon.

Sakura greeted at him indulgently when he turned his gaze to her with a lecherous "Hello, beautiful."

"You're intruding, Shiranui." Raidon informed him, a warning buried somewhere in his bland tone.

"Am I?" Genma chose to ignore it. The shit-eating grin looked like it would be plastered permanently on his face.

"Yes. Now go." Raidon ordered, the warning a little closer to the surface now. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Anko incapacitated with laughter, her head held in one hand on the table surface while she helplessly slammed her fist against the table with the other. Her shoulders shook violently with mirth. However, he didn't see Hatake anywhere, but Raidon figured he would soon, much to his annoyance.

He was right. A head of white hair, attached to a long, slouched body appeared seemingly out of nowhere while Raidon was preoccupied with glowering at Genma to leave.

"Yo, Sakura." Kakashi smiled at her, eye crinkling in a friendly greeting.

Sakura smiled back uneasily. "Hi, Kakashi-sensei." She wasn't sure how to react to the interruption.

Raidon had no such problem.

"Hatake, glad you're here. Mind taking this-" he gestured derisively at Genma "-back where it came from?"

"As a matter of fact I do." Kakashi replied pleasantly, dismissing Raidon and turning back to Sakura. "And how is my most favorite student tonight?" He asked her.

Sakura could only gape at him with overt surprise. Really, she didn't know if she should be amused or shocked at this turn of events. Genma snickered in the background.

"Just great, thanks. We were actually just having--"

"Yes, yes, we saw." Interrupted Anko, who had clumsily made her way over to crowd around the table as well. She grabbed the nearest chair, which happened to be occupied, shook it free its previous owner with a glare and squeezed herself in between Sakura and Raidon.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He demanded incredulously.

Anko grinned stupidly at Raidon as she reached for the one not empty bottle of booze and crowed with humor when he cast her a dirty look. He opened his mouth to tell her off in the most explicit of ways didn't get the chance.

"Why, yes, we'd love to join you!" Genma chortled from above him, grabbing another chair and pulling it up as well.

"No one invited you!" Raidon snarled at one and then the other unwelcome intruder. He turned his furious gaze at Kakashi.

Sakura was speechless, very much out of her element. Dealing with drunken male friends was one thing. Drunken, _deranged_, Tokubetsu Jounin was somewhat different.

Just then Anko threw an arm around her neck, pulling Sakura towards her in an awkward(for Sakura) yet friendly(for Anko) hug. Sakura flailed her arms helplessly, casting forlorn, pleading gazes first at Raidon and Kakashi.

Raidon, to his credit, tried to come to her rescue, but Genma's surprisingly sure and steady grip kept him in his seat.

Kakashi mentally reminded himself to thank Genma later as he skillfully extracted Sakura from Anko's serptentine hold.

Sakura shuddered in relief, quickly relinquishing her seat in favor of fresh, non-Anko-invaded air.

"Sakura," Raidon called to her, and she met his sincerely apologetic gaze.

Kakashi moved in smoothly to her side, throwing an arm around her.

"Don't worry, Raidon, she'll get home safe. You stay, catch up with old friends." Kakashi drawled, noting the murderous intent in Raidon's eyes. "I'll catch up with you later, pal" He threw Raidon's words back at him as he turned to leave.

"Uh–call me!" Sakura yelled over her shoulder as she was steered out of the bar.

As soon as Kakashi and Sakura were out of sight, Raidon's righteously furious fist connected to Genma's shoulder. That wasn't where he had aimed it at, but it was satisfying nonetheless. Genma had the good grace to wince and rub it. Anko chuckled.

"What the hell is your problem?" He demanded of the two of them, but in the pit of his stomach he knew it was useless.

When they had all been younger, Raidon himself had gone out on the town with the two of them and he remembered the drunken stunts they used to pull on others. Hatake had been the target more often than not.

Raidon's shoulders deflated. Now Kakashi had used his own monstrous creation (the drunken, highly-open-to-suggestion, fearless duo that was Shiranui Genma and Mitarashi Anko) against him.

He snagged the last of the sake from Anko's freeloading hands, taking a long drink right from the small white bottle. Hatake would pay, Raidon just didn't know how yet. He also didn't know how he would convince Sakura to go on another date after tonight.

He chugged the rest of the sake and motioned for more.

* * *

Too crack-like? 


	6. Chapter 6

The long, firm arm around Sakura's shoulders was strangely warm in contrast to the cool night air that they had just stepped out into. A few steps farther out into the steet and the hand on her upper arm was removed and replaced into its home in Kakashi's pocket. That action created another interesting hot/cold contrast on her body, but Sakura only noticed it in passing, storing it away in her mind for later. Just then, there was only one thought that was continuously going through her quickly sobering mind. 

"What the hell was that?" She blurted without further delay.

Kakashi noted that she didn't sound angry, just highly confused. And more than a little incredulous. Her voice was higher in pitch than usual.

"I thought you could use some fresh air. Unless you wanted to get to know Anko better...?" He replied reasonably.

Sakura shivered uncontrollably at the memory. "No, not that." Her eyes narrowed on him now when it passed.

"Why were you at our table?" She asked him bluntly, knowing only direct questioning, and most times not even that, was the only way to get a direct answer from him.

"You looked like you needed to be rescued."

"I _what_?" Sakura asked, her voice having gone up an octave.

Kakashi noted that now, while she still didn't seem angry, the confusion was giving way to incredulous disbelief. Annoyance as well maybe? Her body was tensed noticeably, shoulders thrown back as her head extended towards him in question. He noticed... things.

"No? My mistake then." He said this the same way one would apologize for ordering something at a café that wasn't on the menu anymore.

"Your... mistake...?" She stuttered out from the depths of incredulity. Her eyes had been widening gradually, her eyebrows rising to the vicinity of her hairline. Sakura smoothed her expression in resignation, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I think I should go back in there now." She said, nodding, giving him a growingly annoyed look. He didn't miss a beat.

"Tell Anko good night for me." His voice sounded bored and light, but it hit Sakura hard. Her foot froze above the ground as she had started to turn. He _had_ always been 5 steps ahead of them.She put her foot down slowly, turning back to face him.

_Point, _Kakashi cheered to himself. While he wasn't that close to Sakura, he knew some basic facts about her life. Such as when that at her Jounin exam, Anko had created a rather realistic genjutsu which involved her morphing into a giant snake and swallowing Sakura. Kakashi had always thought it was in rather bad taste, given the history of the former Team 7.

"Okay, so what_ is _this all about then, Kakashi-sensei?"

He sighed, not sure how to pick the right words so as to not set her off. This was a situation in which he would actually have to explain himself. He hated these situations more than anything. But if he wanted to avoid having to resort to Anko and Genma, so...

"Sakura, don't take this the wrong way, but Fushino Raidon isn't your type." Kakashi said, wincing before the words were completely out of his mouth. Normally he wouldn't get involved in something like this, but he had decided the wisest, and safest, thing to do was put an end to things between her and Raidon before they even started.

Now, he noted, she had made a full circle in terms of facial expressions. Confused shock again.

Actually, Sakura was floored, chocking on the air she was in the middle of breathing in. Honestly, this was _not_ how she had thought the evening would end. He had barely said 40 words to her in the whole last _year_, and now he was giving her dating advice?

"_What!" _If her voice went any higher she'd be doing falsetto.

Kakashi cringed. How he hated having to explain himself to anyone.

"Trust me on this one." He said, looking straight at her his expression patently bland.

"Can you... can you tell me why?" She asked cautiously.

"No."

"Why?"

Why? Kakashi almost laughed out loud at that one, but caught himself and covered the momentary lapse with a subtle clearing of his throat. Why indeed.

"Just trust me." He said, starting to walk towards her and in the general direction of his apartment. "Goodnight, Sakura."

Without breaking stride, Kakashi put his gloved hand on her barely clothed shoulder and squeezed ever softly, letting it glide off her arm as he passed.

She turned to watch him walk away, bemused.

* * *

"I've got a good one for you." She said, sinking her teeth into the dango, dragging it off the thin wooden stick and into her mouth. 

"Oh?" Ino asked when she brought her cup away from her mouth and placed it back on the table. Licking a perfectly manicured finger, she turned the page of the fashion magazine open on the table in front of her.

When Sakura still didn't say anything, Ino looked up at her and started tapping her hand impatiently on the table.

"Forehead..." She lifted the green tea back to her mouth.

Sakura swallowed the sweet treat, wiping her lips gingerly with her napkin.

"I think Kakashi-sensei's jealous of me."

Ino's delicate throat constricted unexpectedly, barely holding back from expelling the hot drink all over Sakura.

"You think he likes Raidon!" She choked the words out.

Sakura paid little attention, biting into another dango, sliding it off and into her mouth.

It was Friday, and Sakura had gotten off duty earlier than usual. People just seemed much more inclined to avoid dangerous, potentially harmful situations on Fridays. And Ino was always free to leave the flower shop whenever she wanted. It had been too early to start drinking already, for respectable kinouchi anyway. So they decided to waste some time in a café for a while, share a plate of dango. Share had been the operative word for Ino. Sakura had relayed the events of a few nights ago to her friend as she muched on the treats.

"I meant over me. Over that date." She said in between chews.

Now, it might have been the hot tea going down the wrong tube, but Ino just couldn't swallow that one either.

"You're serious?" She asked Sakura.

"Absolutely. He wants me." Another dango casually disappeared from the plate that they were sharing.

"Yeah, you keep inhaling those and you'll fix that right quick." She muttered, loud enough for Sakura to get the hint. Ino reached for the plate, pulling it to the relative safety of her side of the table.

"I'm telling you Pig, why else would he do that?" Sakura asked, already reaching across, ignoring Ino as the blonde tried to slap her hand away.

"Friendly, platonic concern?" She asked weakly, eyeing Sakura's dango-laden hand.

Sakura scoffed. "Right. That ended when I was like 12. And he's never said anything before, about any of the losers I've dated. Even the psychotic ones."

"True. He must really not like this guy, huh? If he's fighting him for _you_..."

Now, Sakura was almost sure the barely concealed insult in that last comment was purely unintentional. Almost. Her eyes narrowed in subtle warning.

"What's that mean?"

"All I'm saying, is that if Kakashi-senpai is showing interest in you, all of the sudden, and only because that Raidon guy is, you should connect the dots." Ino snagged the last skewer with a certain amount of glee, bringing it to her mouth.

"Duh. Thanks. I'm not stupid. I just don't know where I'm going to go with this."

The hand at Ino's mouth paused.

"You, uh, you aren't considering this, are you?" She asked delicately.

"Which part?"

"The, uh, Kakashi-senpai part? You think its wise to get in the middle of their crap?"

"I'm considering it. I do want to give Raidon another chance. Anko really wasn't his fault." Sakura shuddered involuntarily at the name. "And besides, there is some great money to be made here." Sakura trailed off, the gears in her mind already in motion. Ino decided she just might want to stay in with Shikamaru that night.

* * *

Pulling up a chair to the rather small, beer and sake crowded table, Sakura dropped a 20 on the pile of bottles. 

"I say its over a girl." She declared confidently, without greeting or preamble.

The other 3 occupants didn't need an explanation. After all, it was the exact topic that they had been discussing before she got there. Sasuke snorted in disagreement.

"That's what I say. Be more specific." Naruto replied, pulling out a bill of his own, suddenly gravely serious. This kind of gambling was the only sort he had a chance of winning, so he had to take it seriously. His beer and ramen money depended on this.

"Ok..." Sakura considered for a moment, helping herself to Naruto's beer. "I say they were friends until both went after the same girl."

"I'll take that. I say Fushino-san stole a girl from the Kakashi-sensei." He looked expectantly at the other 2 occupants of the table. Sasuke went first.

"Neither of you know what you're talking about. Who would even care after that long? 40 says it's professional." He challenged. That, of course, translated into "mission gone bad".

Naruto and Sakura exchanged a look, wondering if maybe he knew something they didn't. Sakura shook her head. No matter. She was almost certain what the whole thing was about, after that display a few nights back.

"Fine, bastard. We accept." Naruto sneered as he pulled out another bill, parting with it wistfully. At least the winner would be either him or Sakura, and she was always generous when it came to feeding him.

Three pairs of expectant eyes turned to Sai.

"What?" He blinked at them.

"What's your bet?" Naruto asked.

Sai took a long, lazy look at the scene playing out on the other side of the bar.

There were about 10 or 12 of them in all. It was hard to tell, because all the older Jounin seemed to know each other, so you never knew who was with which group. But at the moment, it seemed like they were all together. A bunch of tables had been pushed together, with a multitude of chairs gathered around, some still empty for late-comers. Fushino Raidon was on one side, surrounded by a few shinobi they all recognized, including Genma and Anko. She was laughing.

On the direct opposite was Hatake Kakashi, Asuma at his side. While the latter was smiling subtly around his cigarette, the former was nursing his beer. It was obvious Kakashi wasn't there of his own volition.

Sai raised his own beer to his lips, taking a long, satisfying draw.

"They used to date."

Even Sasuke choked on his drink, a small trickle appearing at his nostril. He wiped at it with the back of his hand. The effects of Sakura's and Naruto's explosions were still raining down on the table.

"Are you serious?" Naruto asked with no small amount of amusement and glee. One less competitor got him that much closer to the pot. This was one of those times that Sai's lack of tact and knowledge of society and culture in general was a blessing.

Sakura giggled at the idea.

"It's your money, loser." Sasuke remarked as he collected Sai's contribution and added it to the pile he was holding unto for safe-keeping.

Sai shrugged.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys. I'll update again pretty soon. Again, this probably isn't going where you think it is. Maybe. Tell me what you think. 


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